Friday, 24 May 2013

Grilled Catfish with a Lemon Garlic Marinade

I'm always looking for ways to cook fish. I love fish and so does everyone else in the family, especially my youngest two children. I cook fish the same way all the time and was looking for something new that didn't involve a sauce. This is a very simple marinade but has a lot of flavour. The charcoal adds a smokiness that I just don't think I could do without. We just had caesar salad and garlic bread with the fish. Something quick and easy for a hot day during the week. Enjoy!

Grilled Catfish with Lemon Garlic Marinade
Juice from 1 lemon
4 cloves of garlic
1 onion chopped
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
5 catfish fillets

Combine the first 6 ingredients in a bowl or large freezer bag. Add the catfish. Marinate in the fridge for 40 minutes to 1 hour.  Heat up your grill. I used charcoal. Place the fish on the grill. Discard the marinade. Grill 5-7 minutes per side, depending on thickness.

Wednesday, 22 May 2013

What I Ate Wednesday #12

 
It's time for another What I Ate Wednesday! Thanks to Jenn at Peas and Crayons for hosting another WIAW, check out the link to see what everyone else is eating!

This was my Tuesday which was like Monday because it was Victoria Day here so I was a little off. I forgot to take a picture of my lunch but that's okay, it wasn't anything special. 

It is super hot here and it makes so lazy. I don't want to move because it's so hot. It's going to cool down to more spring like temperatures later in the week, I am looking forward to it.

Before moving on to WIAW I have to say my heart is so sad for everyone that has lost everything and lost people they love in the tornadoes in Oklahoma, I hope everyone finds peace one day and that they can rebuild their lives and that a tornado this powerful doesn't happen again. Although I'm sure it will I hope that more lessons can be learned from this and the next time there are no fatalities. I think it's amazing that the number was so low for the power that this tornado had but 1 life lost is too many.


Breakfast
2 Hard boiled eggs, a peach, coffee, and 1 piece of whole wheat toast with strawberry jam

Post Workout
A chocolate whey protein shake
Today I did cardio, 30 minutes of hills on the treadmill, 30 min on the stationary bike doing intervals

Lunch
No Picture, I had a sandwich with oven roasted turkey sandwich meat with ,mustard and provolone cheese, 1 small thing of full fat vanilla yogurt and 1/4 cup blueberries

Snack

Supper
BBQ Chicken breast, Spanish rice and green and yellow beans, I also felt like a pop so I had a diet Pepsi and had a Tim Hortons coffee after supper

Since I didn't take a picture of what I ate for lunch I took a picture of what 2 of my 3 kids have for their lunch tomorrow. I pack lunches the night before to save time in the morning.

Grapes, half of a poppy seed bagel (one has strawberry cream cheese, one regular), summer sausage, old and medium cheddar cheese, cucumber slices, 1/2 Belgian waffle


Wednesday, 15 May 2013

What I Ate Wednesday #11


So I was able to try some of the foods that I prepared on Sunday and I have to say, I have enjoyed all of it! I will make all of those things again. As I said in that post, it's been a while since I prepared my food ahead of time and wanted to get back on track again. It has definitely made my week easier. I'm done the Live Fit trainer so I'm doing my own thing at the gym right now and I'm really enjoying it. I really like having a plan but after 3 months of it, I'm ready for a break. I have captured what I ate on Monday, which was my leg day. Here's what I did:
3sx20r leg extensions at 40lbs for a warm up
4sx8r leg press @ 170lbs
3sx20r seated calf press @130lbs
3sx10r each leg glute kickback machine @ 70lbs
3sx10r each leg barbell step ups @40lbs
20 wide stance barbell squats @40lbs, 20 narrow barbell squats @40lbs, 20 plie squats @15lb dumbbell (did 3 sets of this)
3sx10r stiff legged deadlifts @40lb barbell
3sx20r standing calf raises @40lb barbell 
I finished it off with 10 minutes of stretching

It was a great workout!

So let's get back to what I ate on Monday

Breakfast
Here's the Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Oat Pancakes that I prepped on Sunday, I had 2 with E.D. Smith no sugar added syrup and a hard boiled egg, oh and of course coffee!

 After my workout I had a protein shake

Lunch
Chicken with Mango Salsa and baked tortilla chips, this was so yummy! You have to try it! Oh I also had a Danone Creamy field berry yogurt!

Snack
Banana Brownie Protein Muffin, this was good but I didn't use a really ripe banana. I'm sure it would have been so much better if I did.

Supper
A ginormous bowl of Pho!

Bedtime Snack
A Danone Creamy vanilla yogurt mixed with peanut butter chocolate swirl casein protein and thinned with a little unsweetened almond milk, yum!

That's it! Check out Peas and Crayons to see what 200+ other bloggers are eating!

Monday, 13 May 2013

Sunday Food Prep #5 and Baked Tortilla Chips

I haven't prepped my food for the week for quite a while now, I guess I was being a bit lazy. I decided that I was going to do it again this week since it really does help me stay on track. I don't prep my suppers ahead of time, I like to eat whatever I make for the family with them, not something different. I do prep my breakfasts, snacks and lunches though. The only recipe that I have tried is the Cinnamon Chocolate Pancakes and they are delicious. The rest I haven't tried, so I hope they are good.
So here we have Chocolate Protein Oat Bran, Banana Brownie Protein Muffins, Cinnamon Chocolate Pancakes, Chicken and Mango Salsa, Baked Whole Wheat Tortilla Chips

I also boiled eggs for  breakfast
I will be having the pancakes and oat bran for breakfast during the week as well, the muffins are a snack and the chicken lunch.

For the oat bran, I didn't use stevia, I used 2 tsp of sugar and doubled the recipe and didn't use psyillum husk. I also used dark chocolate chips for the pancakes instead of bittersweet and didn't make the topping, I am using sugar free pancake syrup. I didn't want my chicken and mango salsa in a tortilla bowl because it would get soggy sitting around all morning, so tortilla chips it is. Here's the links for all the recipes


Baked Tortilla Chips
1 pack of Whole Wheat Tortillas, I used small tortillas
1/4 cup of oil, you won't use it all
2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350
Pour the oil into a bowl or keep it in the measuring cup
Stack the tortillas, using a pastry brush, brush oil on one side of each tortilla, it doesn't need to be soaked with oil, just enough to cover the entire surface.
Stack them as you go. Cut the tortillas into 8 triangles. Place them on a baking sheet. I did 2 batches,  and sprinkle with salt. I used 1 tsp per batch. If you want to add any other seasonings go ahead and do it. Bake for about 10 min, until they are brown and crispy.


Friday, 3 May 2013

Homemade Taco Seasoning


I used to buy the packaged taco seasoning all the time but for the past couple of years I have been making my own I expected the kids to notice a difference when I started making my own and start complaining that it tastes different, because that what they do! But...that didn't happen! They have never noticed the difference between the two. For me knowing that it doesn't have the amount of sodium that they package does or any added ingredients that it doesn't need is enough for me to make my own, never mind the difference in price. I make a batch of this and it lasts about 4 meals, depending on how much ground meat I have. It's so simple and quick to throw together! You definitely have to try making your own taco seasoning.

Taco Seasoning
4 tbsp chili powder
3 tbsp paprika
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp onion powder
1 tbsp oregano
1/2 tbsp cumin
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp salt

Mix it all together. Store in a tightly sealed container.
When your ready to use it, brown your meat, add 2tbsp of seasoning per pound of meat, add 1/2 cup of water. Cook the meat until all the liquid is evaporated.

Wednesday, 1 May 2013

What I Ate Wednesday - 10

 
So here goes another What I Ate Wednesday and little bit of a rant. So...I was so so sick on the weekend, I wasn`t able to get out out bed, my fever was so high I just laid in the dark for hours with my eyes closed and not sleeping. My weekends usually consist of meal planning and grocery shopping, laundry, cleaning the house, and cooking. This weekend I also wanted to get the yards cleaned up and I was supposed to take my daughter to the store to exchange sandals that I bought her..oh and we were going to take the train to the market. I didn`t do any of that! Luckily, I had most of the laundry done during the week so my husband finished it...first I had to tell him how much laundry detergent to use then discovered after all the laundry was done and baskets brought upstairs that he didn`t fold a single item! Ahhh! The house was not cleaned, my floors are a mess, the kids did their usual daily cleaning and that`s it. I made a very very small and specific (I`m talking location of items, brand of item and quantity) grocery list for my husband to take to the store to buy only what we needed for two days until I would feel human enough to go myself. He came back with almost everything wrong and spent half of what I do for a week of groceries. I tell him a small wheel of double cream brie, he comes back with brie spread, I have never even heard of brie spread before! Oh and the cooking, we ate McDonalds on Saturday and fried rice on Sunday! It`s a good thing I don`t get that sick very often, I`m not sure how this house would keep going....okay I`m done!

So Monday came and I was still sick but I remembered to take pictures but not until after I ate breakfast!

Breakfast: I attempted to eat a bowl of plain Greek yogurt with honey and blueberries, I was supposed to get vanilla yogurt from the store, he came home with plain...it was so gross, I didn`t eat it. So I had a bowl of Oatmeal Crisp cereal and a coffee
 
Lunch: This grilled cheese was soooo good. I`m not sure why I have never tried this before but I will be making this again! Oh I also had some blackberries and kiwi with it



Turkey Ranch Grilled Cheese
2 slices of bread, buttered on one side only
8 thin slices of old cheddar cheese
about 50g of oven roasted turkey breast
thinly sliced onion (as much as you like), I used white onion
about 1 tbsp ranch dressing

Layer: Bread, butter side down in pan, 4 slices cheese, half the ranch squirted over the cheese, onion, turkey, ranch, 4 slices of cheese, bread buttered side up

Pan fry over medium low heat for a few minutes on one side, until golden brown, flip carefully, squish the bread a little with the spatula and brown on that side for a few minutes!

After lunch I had a nice long nap!

Supper: Jambalaya from Barefoot Contessa: Foolproof Recipes
This was good but the kids didn`t eat it, so I put alot of work into prepping this and alot of it went to the garbage, I probably won`t make it again.
I only ate half of this bowl!
 


After supper I had another coffee and some frozen yogurt! 
 
This is not typically how I eat everyday. My appetite is still not very good, what I ate on this day was more than I ate in the 3 days I had a fever, I`m sure it will take a bit of time to get my appetite back.

Don`t forget to check out Peas and Crayons to see what other bloggers are eating!

Wednesday, 24 April 2013

What I Ate Wednesday #9


It's been a long time since I posted anything on here. Ahhh life gets in the way I guess. I have also been lacking in motivation to make my own recipes and have just been following recipes in a book exactly as written. I thought I would make my first post in a month a WIAW post! I was sick with strep throat last week, which left me exhausted and without an appetite. I hardly ate, I went from eating six times a day to eating two and that was forcing myself to eat then. I used to eat as soon as I woke up in the morning but I wasn't eating until hours after I got up, I also wasn't going to the gym. I'm not sick anymore and I'm done my antibiotics but my appetite still isn't back to where I would like it to be.  So here's what I ate today
 
Breakfast
Breakfast was a big mug of coffee. I have been drinking more coffee than usual lately.
2 eggs fried in Pam spray and 3 pieces of pre cooked bacon, not the best tasting stuff but it's quick and hardly requires any energy

Snack
A protein shake with 1.5 scoops of protein mixed with water

Lunch
Homemade pizza with a quinoa crust, topped with turkey, portobello mushrooms, onions and a babybel cheese, check out the recipe here, this was really good. I added garlic powder to the crust.

Then I ate 3 squares of carrot cake with cream cheese icing, I just love those little squares

Dinner
Ina Garten's Crispy Mustard Chicken from the book Barefoot Contessa Foolproof: Recipes You Can Trust, and some corn

That's what I ate today! Not the healthiest day but whatever!
Don't forget to check out Peas and Crayons for more WIAW posts!